Man accused of driving partner to suicide assaulted his ex three years earlier

A man accused of driving his partner to suicide had assaulted a previous girlfriend, a court has heard.

Ryan Wellings is accused of the manslaughter of 23-year-old Kiena Dawes, who left a suicide note saying ‘I was murdered…Ryan Wellings killed me’.

Kiena left their eight-month-old daughter with a friend before taking her own life on a railway line on July 22, 2022.

Giving evidence at his trial earlier today, 30-year-old Wellings admitted he had assaulted a former girlfriend when she picked him up from his uncle’s house in 2019.

He said he had taken a ‘lot of drugs’ and drank ‘a lot of alcohol’ and lost his temper with her.

Wellings admitted an offence of battery following the incident, during which he also damaged her car and tried to hit his father.

When he was arrested, he told the officer: ‘It’s all kicked off. I’ve been at a party and taken loads of coke. I have a problem.’

Wellings also admitted having punched a friend after a night out in August 2023.

John Jones KC, defending, asked if he had lost his temper on that occasion and Wellings said: ‘I did because he was belittling me in front of my friends.’

He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm earlier this year.

Honorary Recorder of Preston Judge Robert Altham told the jury they would have to decide if those previous convictions proved Wellings had the propensity to commit acts of violence.

Wellings is also accused of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour between January 2020 and July 2022, which he denies.

He met Kiena, a hairdresser from Fleetwood, Lancashire, in January 2020 and she was ‘swept off her feet’, her mother told the court.

He had her name and face tattooed on his body just a week later and proposed marriage within three months.

But it is alleged that Wellings began physically and emotionally abusing Miss Dawes soon after, and she told a friend their relationship was a ‘fairy tale turned into a nightmare’.

Giving evidence, the defendant said he had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and had tried to kill himself on five previous occasions.

Wellings said he had tried to hang himself in 2015 or 2016 when the twin daughters he had with his previous partner were a couple of years old.

He took overdoses, of steroids or medication, on four other occasions, he said.

Wellings said: ‘I had children and I couldn’t stop taking drugs and it made me want to kill myself.’

He said he would take around £400 worth of cocaine, or 20 bags, in binges.

He was prescribed anti-depressants after going to the GP but was told he could not take them with drugs so stopped using them when he had cocaine.

The case was adjourned to Wednesday, when Wellings, of Bispham, Lancashire, will continue his evidence.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: Tech consultant found guilty of stabbing Cash App founder to death

MORE: Jury hears screams recorded during ‘random beach attack that left woman dead’

MORE: Woman ‘imitating Luigi Mangione threatens health insurer with words on his bullets’